The gemara says that if one was forced by Persian Goyim to eat matza and had no intention to fulfill his obligation he is yotzei [assuming of course it is Pesach night. Being in Miami is not מעכב]. Rava [or some have Rabbah] says "Ahhhhh - from here I can derive that if one blows the shofar for musical purposes then he is yotzei". Since one need not have kavana to be yotzei eating matza, the same must apply to shofar. The gemara asks "OF COURSE"? One need not be Einstein - or better the Rogochover Gaon, to make such a deduction. If you don't need kavana to be yotzei matza then you don't need kavana to be yotzei shofar!? So what is Rava's chiddush??

The gemara says that there is a distinction that one COULD make between the two cases and Rava in fact really enlightened us with his tzushtel ["comparison" in ancient Greek]. I might have thought [assuming I haven't watched too much TV and have some brain cells remaining] that the Torah told this person to eat matza and he ate. Thus, he is yotzei, kavana or no kavana. But regarding shofar the Torah says זכרון תרועה - One must REMEMBER with a shofar blast [how was your Rosh Hashana? I had a blast!!] and if he blew for music and not for mitzvas shofar then he is merely a מתעסק [preoccupied] - comes Rava and tells us that he is nevertheless yotzei.

There are numerous issues that arise when learning this gemara. Here are a few:

1] One must eat matza דרך חירות. Where on earth is the דרך חירות when one is forced to eat by a bunch of hairy Persian Goyim who have a gun to his head?? [שמעתי ממו"ר כ"ק אדמו"ר שליט"א]

2] Rashi says that the reason he is yotzei matza is because he is not מתעסק. The הנאה he gets from the matza makes him a non-מתעסק. If you remember, we recently discussed why the הנאה one derives from an aveira makes him a non-מתעסק. Numerous achronim say that the reason is that with regard to forbidden foods and עריות the aveirah is NOT the מעשה but the הנאה. This Rashi would seem to fly in the face of that understanding because he we are talking about the mitzva of eating matza where the mitzva is the מעשה אכילה and not the הנאה. Proof positive: The gemara [Pesachim 115] says that one who swallows matza without tasting it he is yotzei. How can this be? There is no הנאה?? It must be that the הנאה is not the mitzva but the מעשה אכילה. Yet, Rashi says here that one is not a מתעסק and is yotzei the mitzva because of the הנאה he derives. So too with regard to an aveirah we must say that it is not the fact that the aveirah is the הנאה which makes him a non-מתעסק.

[הערת מו"ר הרה"ג ר' זאב קליין שליט"א]

3] Rashi says that the קא משמע לן of Rava is that even though he is מתעסק when he is תוקע לשיר he is still yotzei. How can it be that a מתעסק is yotzei? מתעסק can't count for anything [unless we are talking about חלבים ועריות or there is some הנאה involved - loaded sentence]!! In fact the mishna later [32] says explicitly that a מתעסק is not yotzei!! Rashi should have said that קמ"ל he is NOT a מתעסק and that explains why he is yotzei??! [הערת המהרש"א וטורי אבן]

4] How can a תוקע לשיר be called a מתעסק? He knows EXACTLY what he is doing, he just doesn't have kavana for a mitzva??

5] How does Rava know that one doesn't need kavana for mitzvos. Maybe אבוה דשמואל holds like the opinion that eating matza בזמן הזה is only מדרבנן [Pesachim 116b] and many poskim hold that for מצוות דרבנן one doesn't need kavana to be yotzei?

6] Why does the gemara have to contrast shofar with matza by saying that with regard to shofar it says זכרון תרועה. It would have been enough to say that when one eats matza he is doing what the Torah said and eating matza, which according to Rashi means that he is getting הנאה which is enough because he is no longer a מתעסק whereas when one blows the shofar for music he IS a מתעסק so he is not yotzei? Why was it necessary to add that the Torah says זכרון תרועה?

7] Isn't there הנאה also when one blows for musical purposes? If so then we lost the distinction between שופר and מצה??

8] This is a doozer that everybody and their grandmother talks about. In the gemara's conclusion we equate shofar and matza and you are yotzei both without kavana to be yotzei. Yet the Rambam distinguishes between the two and says that התוקע לשיר is not yotzei while one who eats matza due to coercion IS yotzei. Where did the Rambam get THAT from??

There are many more points but I have to go daven mincha - with kavana I hope:-)!!!

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